Thursday, 18 August 2016

Amnesty International (India) Charged with ‘Sedition’

Archaic
provision under IPC that stifle & new laws like FCRA that
threaten and control

A panel
discussion organized by Amnesty International
(India) at United
Theological College in Bangalore on Saturday
13th August 2016,
barely 48 hours before India celebrated entering its 70th
year of Independence, turned chaotic as some “pro-freedom”
Kashmiris, most of whom were youngsters and students, allegedly
entered into heated arguments with a Kashmiri Pandit leader who was
praising the Indian Army.

Amnesty
International India had organized the event as part of a campaign to
seek justice for "victims of human rights violations" in
Jammu and Kashmir. The police were invited and present at the event.

Acting on a
complaint filed by the Akhil Bharatiya
Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the J.C. Nagar
police on 15th
August (India’s Independence Day) charged Amnesty International
India under Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code, which defines
sedition as "brings or attempts to bring into hatred or
contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the
Government of India".

Incidentally,
United Theological College is under Ministry of Home Affair’s
scanner for various FCRA violations and reportedly, the Home Ministry
has now threatened to initiate a probe into the funding of Amnesty
International to check for possible foreign sources funding its
activities in India.

Amnesty
India is not registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act
(FCRA), 2010. Amnesty
India is largely run with crowd-sourced domestic funds. A large part
of Amnesty’s activities involve working closely with various
government departments, including the police.

Amnesty has
questioned why organizing an event to defend constitutional values is
now being branded 'anti-India' and criminalized? International
Human Rights law protects the right to peacefully advocate political
solutions that do not involve incitement to discrimination, hostility
or violence.

What
is Sedition?

Under
Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) ‘Sedition’ covers:
“Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by
visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring
into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite
disaffection (which includes disloyalty and all feelings of hate)
towards the Government established by law in India”

History
of this Law

The law of
‘sedition’ was originally drafted by Thomas Macaulay and was
introduced in the IPC in the year 1870 when India was a British
Colony and Queen Victoria the Empress of India.

Many Indian
freedom fighters, including Mahatma Gandhi
and Bal Gangadhar Tilak,
were charged with sedition during the freedom struggle under this
very provision of law. Today, 70 years after
India’s Independence we still charge Indians under a law that was
enacted by foreign rulers to curb freedom of speech and expression.
And then we glibly talk of “Make in India” and “India at 70”.

Says noted
writer, Mridula Garg, “Any country carrying a law of sedition on
its statute books has no right to claim that its citizens possess the
right to freedom of expression. Even Britain,
who once imposed it on India, has repealed it.”

When the
first amendment to this law was introduced, which also included
detailed limitations on free speech, the then Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was of the view
that the offence of sedition was fundamentally unconstitutional. He
had said “now, so far as I am concerned Section 124-A is highly
objectionable and obnoxious and it should have no place both for
practical and historical reasons. The sooner we get rid of it the
better.”

Views
of Legal Experts

Constitutional
jurist and senior Supreme Court Advocate, Mr. Fali Nariman
avers: “’Sedition’ in India is not unconstitutional, it
remains an offence only if the words, spoken or written, are
accompanied by disorder and violence and / or incitement to disorder
and violence. Mere hooliganism, disorder and other forms of violence,
though punishable under other provisions of the penal code and under
other laws, are not punishable under Section 124A of the penal code.
Likewise, mere expressions of hate, and even contempt for one’s
government, are not sedition. When a person is dubbed “anti-Indian”,
it is distasteful to India’s citizenry, but then to be
“anti-Indian” is not a criminal offence, and it is definitely not
‘sedition’.”

According to Mr. Soli Sorabjee,
Former Attorney General of India:“Sedition,
according to the Supreme Court of India, are the acts which have a
tendency and intention to disturb law and order or incite violence.
After all, it is a section which awards life imprisonment and has
very serious consequences. So the Supreme Court has construed it in
that fashion and said it very clearly that even if you use words that
vigorously criticize the government or comment on the actions of the
government, that is not sedition. That is our law and that is how
Section 124A was interpreted and upheld as constitutional by a
Constitution Bench.

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Since its founding in 1986, the Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy (CAP) has helped philanthropic organisations comply with the complex web of legal issues governing charitable giving in India. CAP specializes in all legal matters concerning the Trusts/Societies Act, Income Tax Act, FCRA, Legal Aspects of CSR and a host of allied laws and good management & compliance practices.